Thursday, June 11, 2009

Today is one of those days - nothing exciting, nothing extraordinary! Tater's still visiting Papa and Mimi, so no Tater-isms. Bruiser and G-Baby are both napping - peacefully! I worked this morning, but nothing exciting there. Bruiser fell and hit his head, but nothing new there! G-Baby did learn how to click her tongue - cute but neither D nor I have been able to get video of it yet. I did some rearranging last night, but my camera batteries died. I'm mid-progress on some yard sale finds - so no pictures of those either. It's just your average, run-of-the-mill kind of day here!

Oh, I do have one thing I can rant and rave a bit about! (Ding, ding, ding! My brain started working again!)

Those of you who know me, know that my school district has been working without a teachers' contract since November. That's never good! Well, supposedly the district is broke and refused to meet in the middle during collective bargaining. So, in January, the school committee unilaterally cut our pay 5% and imposed a 20% health insurance co-pay. In addition, just to be mean in my opinion, they took back a personal day and increased the cap of students per class to 30. Can you imagine 30 kindergartners in my classroom in September without an aide? I'm already having panic attacks! But, it's all wrapped up in the courts now and we will have to wait and see.

So, last night I turned on the cable access channel and watched the rerun of the school committee meeting from Tuesday night. BIG MISTAKE! I swear, just watching them makes my blood boil! No one is thinking clearly, no one is finding any solutions, no one is playing fair. It's pretty scary when you realize that this is your job they are messing with!

All this background is leading up to the things I remembered! Teachers are beginning to think that we need to take a stand and really make a point to the taxpayers (which I am one of!) and the school committee members. So today I got a letter from another teacher in my building. It was in all the teachers' mailboxes. She is asking us to consider only using school department provided supplies for next school year. That means no bulletin boards, no manipulatives, none of the extras that we have all spent our hard-earned meager salaries on. It means boring, dull classrooms, void of color and excitement. It means maybe having a few pencils, some crayons, and some paper to teach 30 5-year-olds how to read, write, and count! Is that even possible?

I understand the intention behind this plan. We DO need to show the public what little we are given to work with and how much really comes from own pockets. But here's my hang-up: why should the students (and the miserable teachers, as well!) suffer in the meantime? It's really sad that this is what the world is coming to! In another year when Tater heads of to kindergarten, I want it to be full of bright colors, provide for various learning styles, and make her want to be there every day!

That said, I'm at a real loss for what to do about all this. I have to see what the union's next action will be - and I may have to be one of those teachers who secretly has a fun classroom filled with parent-provided supplies. We'll see...

Okay, I'm finished ranting! Hopefully, tonight I will replace camera batteries and tomorrow will bring you a multitude of pictures of my little ones!

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We are a busy, Christian family of six. We love to share our successes, trials, and silliness with our family and friends! Watch as we grow as a family and as individuals - and laugh with us through our daily adventures in life!